Iran TV broadcasts pour fresh fuel on simmering tensions in Kashmir

• Kashmiri set ablaze an Indian national flag. Pic: Getty

The violence, the worst since separatist protests erupted in June, came as Indian officials debated whether to relax security regulations to try to ease tensions in the disputed territory.

Despite a rigid curfew across the region, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets, throwing rocks and setting fire to government buildings and a Christian school. They chanted: "Go India, go back. We want freedom."

Security forces shot at crowds in about a dozen areas, killing 13 people and wounding 45 others, said Kuldeep Khoda, director-general of the state police.

A teenage boy was killed later when troops opened fire in the southern town of Anantnag.

While separatists had planned demonstrations following the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this weekend, the anger in the streets yesterday was far greater than in previous protests over the summer. They were inflamed by reports on the Iranian state-run channel Press TV that a copy of the Koran was desecrated over the weekend in the US, Mr Khoda said.

Though a Florida pastor called off his plans to burn the Muslim holy book, the channel showed footage of a different man destroying a Koran in Tennessee.

While most broadcasters around the world did not prominently report on scattered desecration incidents by a handful of fringe anti-Muslim activists in the US, the Iranian channel carried the footage repeatedly over the weekend.

The protesters chanted "Down with Koran desecrators" and protest leaders denounced the alleged desecration incident in speeches to the crowds.There were also shouts of "Down with America" and "Down with Israel" - sentiments rarely heard in Kashmir, where anger is normally directed at India.

As the protests worsened, the station was removed from local cable networks at the insistence of Kashmiri authorities.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India was searching for a peaceful resolution to the summer of conflict.

In a speech to senior army commanders, he said: "We are willing to talk to every person or group which abjures violence, within the framework of our constitution."

His statement came hours ahead of a meeting of Cabinet ministers that was expected to decide whether to lift the Armed Forces Special Powers Act - which gives sweeping powers to security forces in Kashmir - as a goodwill gesture in parts of the territory that have been relatively peaceful.

However, a statement issued after the meeting did not mention the act, suggesting that no decision was taken on the issue.

Some government officials strongly oppose the move as premature, pointing to the flare-up in violence in the Himalayan region over the weekend as justification for intensifying the crackdown.

The region has been rocked for months by protests. The demonstrations often descend into clashes with government forces, and though Mr Singh has called for the use of non-lethal force, troops have often resorted to firing on the crowds to quell the unrest. They have now killed at least 84 people this summer - mostly teenage boys and young men in their 20s - with the deaths fuelling further protests.

Anger at India runs deep in Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both countries. The mainly Muslim protesters reject rule by Hindu-dominated India and want independence or a merger with predominantly Muslim Pakistan.

The current unrest is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against New Delhi's rule sparked an armed conflict that has so far killed more than 68,000 people, mostly civilians.